As Nakai Masahiro Scandal Grows, Fuji TV Promises Investigation at Closed-Door Presser

Fuji TV headquarters in Daiba
The president of Fuji TV held what may be the world's most cowardly press conference, forbidding it from being streamed live or rebroadcast.

Want more UJ? Get our FREE newsletter 

Need a preview? See our archives

The sexual assault accusations swirling around former SMAP member Nakai Masahiro aren’t going away. To the contrary, the scandal is getting worse. More TV variety programs said they were letting the former boy band idol go after a local magazine interviewed a second Fuji employee who’d been lured to what appears to be a sex party hosted by Nakai.

Reports continue to allege that members of Fuji TV’s staff were involved in helping Nakai find and arrange meetings with his alleged victims. In response, Fuji TV held a tightly controlled press conference to promise it would launch an independent investigation led by a legal team. The format of the announcement, however, left a bad taste in a lot of people’s mouths.

The new allegations from Bunshun

Fuji TV announcing the Nakai Masahiro presser this am
Fuji TV announcing the presser this AM.

As I reported earlier, Nakai, a member of the now-retired boy band SMAP, made headlines when it came out he paid a woman at Fuji TV a 90 million yen (USD $570K) settlement for unknown reasons. Those connected to the alleged victim contend that Nakai sexually assaulted her at a private dinner.

The victim, identified by magazine Shukan Bunshun as X, and those who know her contend that a member of Fuji TV’s staff, A, arranged a private dinner between her and Nakai. There were supposed to be several guests (including A) at the dinner. However, they all canceled, leaving the alleged victim alone with Nakai when the incident occurred.

Fuji has officially denied any of its staff were involved. However, Bunshun says that a current Fuji TV announcer, Mizutani Aiko (pseudonym), was also “invited” by A to dine with Nakai in 2021.

Mizutani says she was told the location – the Grand Hyatt in Tokyo’s Roppongi – at the last minute. Once she arrived, she wasn’t led to a public dining room but to a private room in the hotel to “avoid the public eye.”

She says she dined with Nakai, A, and two other female announcers in Nakai’s room, where the star grew increasingly drunk on shochu. She says she found herself and another announcer left alone with Nakai and another entertainer. Nakai reportedly “locked on” to the other announcer.

Later, after fleeing to the bathroom, Mizutani came back to find the entertainer naked and beckoning to her.

Mizutani says A and others returned to the room after she steadfastly refused the entertainer’s advances. She says she felt, in that moment, that A and the others would never involve her in their projects at Fuji TV ever again.

And she was right.

Nakai gets the boot from NTV as US investor demands investigation

Nakai offered what many panned as a weak “apology” on his self-run agency’s official website last week. In it, he expressed his desire to keep appearing on the variety TV programs that he’s helmed for years. To him, the whopping sum he paid meant the matter was settled.

Many critics didn’t agree. Consensus was that, if Japanese TV stations allowed Nakai to keep appearing, they’d be endorsing the idea that celebrities could get away with anything by paying off their victims.

The TV stations seem to recognize this. At least, they recognize the huge risk they carry in allowing Nakai to continue performing. Earlier this week, NTV announced it was releasing Nakai from its program Za! Sekai Gyoten Nyusu. Nakai’s image has already been scrubbed from the program’s website.

To add to the pressure on Nakai, US company Rising Sun Management, a subsidiary of Dalton Investments that holds an investment in Fuji Media Holdings, sent a letter to the company demanding a third-party investigation.

“Keeping the trust of your viewers and sponsors is a vital component in maintaining the Company’s sustainable growth. It is imperative that the issue be handled appropriately and promptly and without ambiguity,” Chairman Paul ffolkes Davis wrote.

Fuji president promises new investigative committee

Earlier this week, Fuji said it would do just that, seeking outside legal counsel to launch an independent investigation. Today, after promising an announcement at a press conference, Fuji TV President Minato Koichi said the company will launch a full, external investigative committee spearheaded by lawyers, according to NHK News and Nikkei.

The planning of today’s press conference itself left a lot to be desired, however. The presser was not broadcast live; the station also said it wouldn’t permit post-event broadcast. The only reporters invited to the soiree were members of “press clubs” who had standing invitations to Fuji TV’s regular news conferences.

The press club system has long been used in Japan to restrict the number and types of reporters (e.g., excluding foreign journalists) who can attend an event. In this case, even journalists for large outlets, such as TBS Radio’s Sawada Taiki, said they weren’t allowed into the event. Bengoshi Dot Com, a prominent legal site in Japan, also says its reporters were refused admission. The presser’s format was widely criticized on both social media and Yahoo! News JP.

We can only hope that the committee’s investigation, and the results, are more transparent and forthcoming than the company’s head.

What to read next

Want more UJ? Get our FREE newsletter 

Need a preview? See our archives

Japan in Translation

Subscribe to our free newsletter for a weekly digest of our best work across platforms (Web, Twitter, YouTube). Your support helps us spread the word about the Japan you don’t learn about in anime.

Want a preview? Read our archives

You’ll get one to two emails from us weekly. For more details, see our privacy policy